Cake and other things
by christinesangel100
Summary: A short Drarry fic written on Draco's birthday the other day. When Draco's birthday has gone fairly badly, it's only made worse by the fact his partner, Harry Potter, is out on a job for the Aurors. And when he tries to floo call Harry, he's told that the boy-who-lived is the boy-who-is-absent.


**Author's Note: Okay, the majority of this seems to be angsty 'my birthday sucks woe is me' from Draco, but it's meant to be Drarry fluff. It would be more so, but it's 11pm and I'm super tired. :) I wanted to publish it today. Maybe I'll edit it later, but I just wrote this in fairly short time.**

 **Hopefully, it's alright.**

Draco trod miserably into his house. It was empty, as he'd known it would be, but even so it was disheartening.

He'd not had a very good day – his parents had met him for lunch, and, despite everything, they still found it atrocious that he'd chosen to work, rather than live off the money he had from being part of one of the wealthiest wizarding families. Even more so was the disappointment that he hadn't gone into politics or any other…worthy….career.

He would have hoped, after ten years, they would have accepted it. Apparently, that wasn't going to happen.

Their gift to him had been alright, though, he supposed, taking it from his pocket and cancelling the shrinking spell he'd cast on it. A chest, filled with alchemy supplies, potions ingredients, and books. He'd probably enjoy making use of it, but right now he felt like it didn't matter. He'd shown his thanks, of course, been grateful, just as he had to be.

Even so, he couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Alright, he'd had warning. He'd known there was no possibility.

But it was still rather lonely to be spending the majority of his birthday alone.

Harry had suggested he invite over some colleagues, but Draco knew better than that. His colleagues put up with him because they had to, not because they wanted to, and if he'd tried to invite them, they would have looked at him with scorn.

Harry had also put forward a suggestion of going to see the Weasleys, and celebrating with them – he was sure Molly would make a cake and help him celebrate – but Draco had refused that, as well. After all, what good would it do? They felt obligated to accept him, as did the rest of the Wizarding World, simply because he was the chosen partner of Harry Potter, the saviour of all wizarding kind.

Most people tolerated him. Only a few still spat at him in the streets, viewing him a death eater who missed out on Azkaban. It didn't matter to them that he'd never wanted that, never wanted to be a death eater or torture muggles. He'd had no choice. He knew, some people chose death rather than work for him, but the death of his family too, for allowing him to do so? He wasn't brave enough to fight. He'd been a child. He wasn't meant for war.

Harry hadn't been either, but they'd been on opposite sides from the beginning. Despite that, Draco rebelled where he could. He didn't let them take Harry, he refused to identify him. All he'd had left at that point was his heart. He wasn't going to let Voldemort take that, too.

He entered the kitchen, taking out the birthday cake he'd purchased from a popular bakery in Diagon Alley, and leant against the counter. Was there even any point in eating a slice? It was sad, wasn't it, to celebrate your birthday by eating a slice of cake alone?

Regardless, he decided, it was sadder to spend your birthday alone without even cake to cheer you up. With that in mind he opened the box, took a knife from the drawer and cut a large, delicious slice of the cake.

It was finished fairly quickly, and he sat morosely for a few minutes before deciding he might as well firecall Harry. Harry had told him he could, after all, and he'd like to at least see Harry briefly or talk to him for a moment.  
He headed to the fireplace, threw in some floo powder and sat on the cushions they had placed there, putting his head into the flames.

"54 Grimble Lane." He called. His head span as the fire sent it through. Once it established, he blinked, and focused. He couldn't see much – some chair legs, what he thought was a table – but he could hear someone talking. _Weasley._

"Excuse me," He said haughtily, hoping to get their attention.

"Bloody hell, what was – oh, the floo." Draco smirked slightly at having startled the auror. Really, Weasley should be able to tell where a noise was coming from.

The red-head came into view, bending down to see him.

"Oh, Malfoy." He said, seeming slightly surprised. Draco ignored it.

"I was hoping I could speak to Harry," He drawled. "I was told I could contact him here."

Ron Weasley looked slightly awkward. "Oh…I'm sorry, mate, he's not here. He's out right now, some task for Darnoss."

Draco sighed. "Of course."

Ron hesitated. "I'll have him floo you back when he gets here, yeah?"

Draco nodded. "Thank you."

He pulled his head back from the fire, and back into his own house. Wonderful. Not only was Harry on a job and unable to see him in person, he wasn't even able to floo call him.

Feeling thoroughly sorry for himself now, he couldn't be bothered to cook a meal. If he had to suffer such an unfortunate day, then he wasn't cooking. He was still mostly wary of the muggle world, but Harry had introduced him to one good thing – takeaways.

The house phone was charmed, and worked despite the magic in the house, so Draco searched quickly for the various menus. He remembered vaguely how to use the device. The muggle food item, what was it – ah, yes – pizza. He'd order pizza.

He placed his order quickly, providing his address. Of course, it would be twenty minutes before the muggle delivery man arrived with his food, but he could wait. He had to find Harry's muggle money, too. He had some muggle money himself of course. Sometimes it was necessary to journey into the muggle world, rather than strictly staying in the wizarding world, and if he ever found himself lost, having muggle currency was bound to help him. But if Harry was so discourteous as to not be around on his birthday (Draco was ignoring the fact that Harry had desperately tried to get out of work for the 5th June, and done all he could to be there), then Draco was going to buy his birthday dinner with Harry's coin.

He'd eat in the living room, he decided, on the sofa. It was comfortable after all, more so than the chairs in the kitchen.

He collected the pizza from the delivery man once it arrived, feeling slightly comforted by the smell of tomato and cheese, along with the other toppings he'd chosen. He took it into the lounge, reached out to turn on the lamps and headed to the sofa.

Unfortunately, there was somebody already sitting on it.

Draco sighed. "Honestly. Of course you would butt in when you aren't invited. I only got pizza for one, you know." His voice was stern, but he couldn't help the slight smile.

"Come on, I wasn't going to let Darnoss take up all my time today." The black-haired man replied, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

Draco couldn't help it. "Fine. I'll share, but only if you brought me a present." He said imperiously, sitting beside Harry and resting his head on his partner's shoulder.

Harry pretended to be hurt. "You mean I don't count?"

The blond just rolled his eyes and waited for Harry to bring out his gift. Harry smirked. "Alright, alright." He paused, pulling his wand from his pocket.

"Accio Draco's present!" He cast. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Too lazy to bring it down yourself?"

Harry smirked. "Yup."

A badly wrapped present came soaring into the room, and Draco caught it before Harry could.

He ripped off the paper, feeling slightly excited. When he saw the present, he exhaled sharply.

"How did you- _Harry."_ This was…this was perfect. How Harry had managed to pull this off, Draco couldn't imagine.

The man himself was looking slightly nervous, worried about the reception of his gift. He rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. "Is it alright?" He asked.

Draco gaped at him. "You…Merlin, Harry! This is amazing! How could you possibly get this? How did you even know?"

Harry looked shifty. "I…may have seen the leaflets you had about the auction."

Draco let out a laugh, exhilarated. "You got me Merlin's journals, Harry! It must have cost….I can't imagine!"

Harry grinned. "Well, you know. I had to beat your last present somehow."

Draco scoffed. "And how do you expect to beat this one?" He asked.

Harry paused. "Yeah, that's a point." He answered finally. "I have no idea."

Draco shook his head, letting out a snort. "Honestly, Potter."

He pulled his partner towards him, and smiled. "Thank you." He said softly, before kissing him.

He felt Harry smile against his lips.

When they pulled away, Harry smiled. "Happy Birthday, Draco."

Draco stroked Harry's hand gently, and put his arm around him. "You're impossible, Harry."

Harry grinned. "And that's why you love me."

Draco rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway.

"Of course."


End file.
